Corvette Track Testing - Passing The Test

You Need A Plan To Test Your Race Car

Test Timeline9:30 - The track doesn't open until noon, but Danny has all three cars out of the trailers and ready to go. All of the pit boxes are in place. We're talking serious organization here.

2/11

11:00 - The #33 Corvette (Joe's car) gets all new brake rotors and pads. This takes Danny about twelve minutes. The best part is that he can carry on a conversation while he does it. Twelve minutes for a complete brake job-damn.

11:45 - The #33 and the #39 Corvettes are fired up and brought up to temperature.

12:00 - Joe Cauley and Danny are the first drivers out on the track. They're running about 80 percent of what they're capable of. Just slow, consistent laps. There's nothing to prove here.

12:30 - Both cars pull back into the pits. The #39 car (the one with the new engine) has a miss. It's not a bad miss-it's just that it doesn't seem to be running on all eight cylinders all the time. Joe says that the car is loading up in corners and has a unique crackle in the exhaust sound. Basically, something just isn't right. The first go around with an infrared scanner shows all of the exhaust pipes with the same temperature. Danny explains this simply means that all of the pipes are heat soaked. We have to let the car cool down and then fire it up again to isolate the cylinder.

3/11

Danny's car (#37) is not displaying axle and transmission temperatures. DJ Racing has temperature sensors for both the transmission and the rear axle. Your C5 only has one? Oh well. Remember I said that DJ Racing was thorough.

12:45 - While the #39 Corvette cools down, the #37 car goes up on jackstands. It's time to determine why there are no temperature readings in Danny's Corvette. It turns out that the sensors are dead. There's no real reason for this, except maybe they got damaged somehow in the rebuild process. At any rate, this is something that can be taken care of later this evening. Today's track time won't create enough heat to be a problem. These sensors will be needed during the next several days, but not today. This isn't the time, or place, to replace them.

12:55 - Danny fires up the #39 car again to check on the engine miss. This time all of the exhaust pipes went to 450 degrees-except for the #8 cylinder, which never even got to 250 degrees. Time to pull the plug and see what it looks like. It's wet. The rocker arm cover now comes off and we get a real surprise. The rocker arm adjuster nut is broken. Danny says he's never seen that happen before. A new experience for Danny-now that's really something unique.

4/11

Danny makes a quick decision that only two cars will be used for the upcoming weekend. Jeff Cauley's weekend is over before he even arrives at the track. On the other hand, this is not the time to destroy a motor. The Cauleys do this for fun.

2:28 - Both cars come back in and everything looks fine. They were both running about 230 degrees at speed. At full race speed, the temperatures usually run about 250 degrees. Remember, this is a test session and the cars are at only about 80 percent today.

This is a pretty basic race-driven Corvette. Kellermyer is a firm believer that stock GM parts are generally the best choice. The red device on the right hand cylinder bank is designed to release crankcase vacuum. This can be adjusted for specific vacuum. This is only relevant if you have a dry sump oiling system.

Except for the Hawk brake pads, this is all stock GM. The wheel studs are available from your local Chevrolet dealer. The same goes for the rotor and the caliper. Over the years, DJ Racing has found that the stock parts work best.

The slots in the caliper pistons let the heat from the pads escape. Even more importantly they eliminate the conductive path for heat. Remember, braking is really all about heat management.

Danny has been racing Corvettes longer than some of you have been alive. The best part is that he's still faster than most of you. It's rare that you find this combination of engineering and driving skill.

The C6 is no faster than a C5 on most road courses. It's all about the wheelbase and the way the weight is distributed on the rear wheels. The extra inch of wheelbase on the C6 may be an advantage on the highway, but it can be a disadvantage on a tight track. Keep in mind that we're talking about race cars-not street cars. All of you C6 owners who drive on the street still have an advantage over the C5-on the street.

There's a lot of attention to detail here. These are 1.7 roller rockers from Crane. The valvesprings are from Patriot Performance. These are generally called Patriot Gold. The retainers are titanium and also from Patriot Performance.

This is the reason you need to look at your rotors every time your Corvette comes off the track. The small cracks really aren't an issue, but once the cracks reach the edge of the rotor, you need to change them out. Based on what I'm noticing with C5 and C6 Corvettes, you really need to carry extra brake rotors with you if you run track events. Danny feels the best brake rotors are the stock GM rotors. In fact, a lot of the aftermarket rotors are simply GM rotors with slots milled into them. Or, with holes drilled into them for the street car crowd.

These are the fastest Corvettes in the Midwest. Their consistent speed is the result of lots of careful thinking and equally careful preparation.

There are really no secrets to Corvette speed. It doesn't take a bunch of aftermarket parts and a huge bank account to go fast. Consider that both these cars have been racing for over a decade now and they're seldom beaten. Getting the idea?

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